Lana Del Rey’s Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, a poetry book and its accompanying audiobook of poems, recited by Del Rey and set to music by Jack Antonoff, has received an official release date. The audiobook is out July 28, and the hardcover and ebook editions arrive on September 29. In addition, CDs and vinyl ship on October 2.
Del Rey announced the poetry project on Instagram back in December, telling fans that half of proceeds will “benefit Native American organizations around the country, whether it was for preserving their rights or trying to help keep their land intact.” She revealed on Instagram yesterday (July 8) that she’s supporting the Navajo Water Project.
“The Navajo Water Project has a fundraising target of $1,035,000 for 2020 to bring running water and solar power to 230 families,” Del Rey wrote. “and we plan on fulfilling that target in the next 4 weeks to bring it up to their million dollar mark, and we’ll be traveling throughout New Mexico Arizona and Utah to say hello and make sure it gets done.”
Del Rey released Norman Fucking Rockwell! last year. She’s indicated that another album will arrive in September. Another poetry collection called behind the iron gates – insights from an institution is also apparently in the works.
Lana Del Rey’s initial Instagram post announcing her next album was the cause of some controversy. The post defended her lyrics, particularly those concerning women with “sometimes submissive or passive roles” in their relationships. (In the past, critics—and some artists—have grappled with Del Rey’s portrayal of submissive women.)
Del Rey made comments about Doja Cat, Ariana, Camila, Cardi B, Kehlani, Nicki Minaj, and Beyoncé having “number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, fucking, cheating etc,” continuing, “I’m fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorize abuse when in reality I’m just a glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing are very prevalent emotionally abusive relationships all over the world.”
Del Rey’s comments led to backlash, and she published a follow-up post on her Instagram account the next day, after writing comments defending herself on the original post. “Despite the feedback I’ve heard from several people that I mentioned in a complementary way, whether it be Ariana or Doja Cat,” she wrote. “I want to say that I remain firm in my clarity and stance in that what I was writing about was the importance of self advocacy for the more delicate and often dismissed, softer female personality.” Del Rey added that “there does have to be room for that type in what will inevitably become a new wave/3rd wave of feminism that is rapidly approaching. Watch!”
Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass:
01 LA Who Am I to Love You
02 The Land of 1,000 Fires
03 Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass
04 Past the Bushes Cypress Thriving
05 Salamander
06 Never to Heaven
07 Sportcruiser
08 Tessa DiPietro
09 Quiet Waiter Blue Forever
10 What Happened When I Left You
11 Happy
12 My Bedroom Is a Sacred Place Now – There Are Children at the Foot of My Bed
13 Paradise Is Very Fragile
14 Bare Feet on Linoleum